The Old Man Hitched Up His Hogs to the Plow- Lane (ME) 1942 Flanders P
Flanders' Ancient Ballads- 1965; Notes by Coffin
The Farmer's Curst Wife
(Child 278)
Coffin's notes: There is an old proverb that says there are but two places where a man wants to have his wife- in bed and in the grave. Certainly, the scolding wife, one who can rout the devil himself, has left her mark on folklore from India and Russia to the western countries. This particular anecdote concerning her is a favorite of the American informant with a similar song, "The Devil in search of a wife," it was also popular among the printers of nineteenth-century London broadsides. ["The Sussex Farmer" being close to, or the origin of, Child A. "The Devil in search of a wife" is quite different- see English & Other versions- except for the last few stanzas.]
Originally, it must have concerned a contract in which a farmer hired the devil to do some plowing in exchange for a member of the family. The farmer, in many texts, worries that he may lose his eldest son and is relieved when his wife is taken. The American versions follow Child A as a rule, it being rare that the wife come back to her cooking as in Child B. However, the yoking of the dogs and hogs to the plow and the proverbial sayings at the close of the song are frequently added to the Child A base in the New world.
The Flanders material needs little comment. Texts A and B, in which the farmer seems to be rather proud of his wife's triumph over the forces of hell are not common, though Phillips Barry, British Ballad's from Maine, 330-1, prints an example from Northeast Harbor. Nor are the C-I "Anthony Rowley" texts with the "right leg, left leg," refrains. But C in which the wife is the farmer, harnesses the cattle herself, and goes to the gates of hell, is the only text that introduces a really radical story variation. C is a noteworthy find.
American references for Child 278 may be found in Coffin, 148-50. see also Dean-Smith, 66, and Belden, 94-95, for English citations. Barry, op. cit., 332, cites local uses of the motif in New England.
The tunes for child 278 all belong to one tune family. A large proportion of them are especially closely related; the following tunes are slightly divergent: Ordway, Davis, Weeks, Brackett. The Underhill, Farnham, and Lorette tunes are very similar, as are the Moses and Blake tunes.
For general relationship to the larger group of tunes, see FCBa, 116, 117, 119; DV, 598 No. 46 (c), 599 No. 46 (E) and (F), 601 No. 46 (L); GCM, 373; Sharp I, 215, 278.
Flanders P. Sung by Mrs. Sarah Lane of Howland, Maine. M. Olney, Collector; May 11, 1942
The Old Man Hitched Up His Hogs to Plow
Oh, the old man hitched up his hogs to plow,
Fal dal-diddle i-dy-o.
'Twas this way and that way, the devil knows how,
To my rang-rang fal-diddle i-dy-o.
(Follow pattern of first stanza for all stanzas.)
Oh, the devil came to his plow one day,
Saying, "One of your family I must take away."
"Oh, dear, oh, dear, what shall I do?
Oh, my oldest son I must let go."
" 'Tis not your oldest son I crave,
But your darned old scolding wife I'll have."
He put her in an old long sack
And threw her over his old back.
He carried her over a field or moor
And set her down at hell's back door.
One little devil peeked over the wall,
Saying, "Carry her back or she'll kill us all."
He set her over a brimstone pot,
She swore it was almighty hot.
He put her in his old long sack,
And like an old fool went sacking her back.
This shows that women are worse than men,
For they go to hell and back again.